Monday May 22nd, 2017

The exercise:

Write about: acrobatics.

I'm not totally sure that's the best prompt for my story, but I already used Spider-Man as a prompt so... here we are.

Plus I can't imagine there will be too many bathroom stories from my job that aren't the least bit gross, so I figured I'd best share this one.

Feel I should point out before getting to my tale that Max is having a sleepover at Kat's parents house tonight. Our home is... weirdly empty without him here.

Mine:

After my lunch break today I returned to the washrooms at the main beach here in Osoyoos. Which have been incredibly busy this weekend, needing two cleans each day and multiple restockings on paper towels and toilet paper.

Anyway. I go in to check on the men's washroom and only one of the two stalls was unoccupied. So I go check the women's side and then come back to see if I can have a look at the second stall.

Still someone in there.

Or so I thought.

Eventually I got tired of waiting (plus I was getting suspicious) and ducked down to find... nobody in there. But the door was locked.

Annoyed by the thought of someone purposely locking the door from the inside and then either crawling under the door (no way I was doing that) or climbing out the top, I went back to my work truck to get my litter grabber (since I figured I could reach the lock without having to climb in).

The walls on the stall, by the way, are maybe seven feet tall. Maybe closer to six and a half. I, on the other hand, am five foot eight inches tall.

So I use the top of the urinal next to the stall as a step to get myself up on the wall and grab for the lock. Got it, dropped down. And... nope I didn't. Tried again. Pretty sure I got it to slide all the way across. And completely sure the door still won't open.

Great. The lock is broken.

And now I had a completely different impression of the guy who was in there when it broke. Poor bastard.

Back to the truck. Grab a screwdriver. Climb up. Drop down inside the stall. Unscrew the lock. Try to fix it. Fail miserably. Back to the truck. Get a marker and a piece of paper. Write 'Lock broken Please knock before entering Thank you!". Tape it over the hole where the lock was. Make mental note to report the issue tomorrow morning so that the foreman can get someone to properly fix the lock. Leave to go clean Town Hall.

That, by the way, left out the first time I dropped into the stall, when I realized I couldn't get it unlocked by hand and I would need a screwdriver to open it.

I was pleased that I pulled that off without a) falling, or b) injuring myself in some awkward and impressive fashion. Was disappointed I couldn't fix it.

I think I impressed the two boys who were in there with their father, getting changed and dried off after being at the beach.

Hopefully I didn't give them any ideas of trying that themselves.